Yesterday I talked about the depletion of magnesium in our food and soil and the devastating results. The fact that up to 80% of Americans are deficient in magnesium really scared me (see health studies mentioned yesterday) and prompted Rob and I to do an experiment. We eat a whole lot of magnesium rich foods, and for some reason he just isn’t absorbing it that way. A few months ago we tried oral magnesium, and that wasn’t absorbed well either (If you’re looking for a recipe for diarrhea take a heaping teaspoon of oral magnesium). I started researching transdermal magnesium therapy and discovered that 75% of the magnesium is absorbed through the skin with this method. I found a product loosely referred to as magnesium oil. Though it’s not actually an oil at all, but a super saturated solution of magnesium chloride.

First I went to the health food store shopping for magnesium oil to be applied to the skin. I found a 4 ounce bottle for $19.99 or a 8 ounce bottle for $37.50. Those are both around $5 per ounce. I’m sure by now you have figured out that I’m a cheap skate. I went home and figured out how to make it myself.

Calling all Cheap Skates

I went online (I found several sources on Amazon) and ordered pure 100% Magnesium Chloride Flakes (and you should too). I ordered a 2.2 pound bag of flakes for $14.99. This will make gallons of magnesium oil. I would recommend Swanson Ultra or Ancient Minerals if you are looking for a pure source. Also make sure the label says “Magnesium Chloride Flakes” and absolutely nothing else! This is what they look like:

Homemade Magnesium Oil

1/4 cup magnesium chloride flakes

1/4 purified water

In a saucepan heat water and add flakes. You don’t have to boil it. Just hot enough to dissolve the magnesium. Ok that’s it. I feel like there should be a lot more steps here, but nope, you’re done :)

I funnelled ours into a cute little spray bottle that I saved. Yes I save everything like one of those weird hoarder people. And see, I really do use all that crap eventually!

Rob and I both shower at night. So before my shower, I take off all my clothes in the bathroom and spray my entire body down with magnesium oil. I then rub it in really good just like lotion. It needs to soak into the skin for at least 20 minutes, so don’t shower for at least that long. I spend this 20 minutes brushing my teeth, using my water pick (do ya’ll have a water pick? If not you should go get one they are the bomb) plucking my eyebrows and whatever other stupid girly things I can think to do.

I should probably warn you about a couple of things here, because nobody warned me and I was quite unpleasantly surprised….

1. The first couple of times you use this spray is stings. It didn’t sting all over my body, but for some reason my lower back was itching/stinging/burning/ for like 5-7 minutes afterward. Not fun. Rob had the same thing happen to his abdomen. It stings because magnesium chloride is derived from salt and some of us have sensitive skin. After the 3rd day of using this I am 100% sting free and so is Rob. So hang in there!

2. After it dries on the skin it leaves a white, salty, powdery residue on the skin. You kind of look like you just walked out of a bakery explosion :) This is the reason that I started spraying right before I shower. This would not be cool under my mostly black work attire.

3. Don’t spray this on an area that you just shaved. Ladies if you can just imagine here the area that I just got done shaving before I sprayed….you will die laughing. For some reason it didn’t occur to me that this would be an especially sensitive area. Whatever. I won’t make that mistake again.

4. Rob sprayed his whole body, including his chest. Nipples are sensitive people. Very, very sensitive. So, unless burning nipples are something you’re really into, avoid these two small areas.

So that is our little experiment in a nut shell. I am really hoping and praying that this cures Rob of his restless leg syndrome. After all the research I have done, I would recommend that EVERYBODY supplement with magnesium. The chance that you have enough magnesium in your body is only 20% And by the way, my 4 ounce bottle of magnesium oil cost $1.70. That is .42 cents per ounce. Ha!

In case some of you have not discovered Underground Wellness, there was an excellent podcast about Magnesium on Wednesday March 28th 2012, that I would highly recommend. It features Morley Robbins, who has dedicated his life to studying magnesium deficiency. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.It is much more thorough and in depth than my meager postings….Go to www.blogtalkradio.com and search for Underground Wellness and you can listen to it online or click the above link. It is also free on iTunes. I am a big fan of listening to my iPod while I’m stuck in the kitchen all day….

So far the only side effects we are experiencing are great nights of sleep. I fell asleep last night at 10:30pm and slept all the way until 8:15am. For me that is a whole lot of sleep! I feel mentally very clear as well. I don’t know if that’s related or not, but I just jumped out of bed this morning ready to start the day. Unfortunately I can’t tell if this is working for Rob’s legs, because I was out like a light :) He could have kicked all night long and I wouldn’t know…I need a nanny cam or something. Ha!

Great, very useful post. You are really knocking it out of the park this week!! Going to listen to the podcast this afternoon. How were you and Rob able to tell that you were still magnesium deficient after taking the oral supplements?

One of the signs that you aren’t absorbing it orally is “loose stools”. We also noticed zero reduction is his crazy legs…I imagine if you took a small amount orally in addition to magnesium rich foods, and in addition to the spray/lotion/gel on the skin that would be the absolute best total program.

about nerve problems… check the electromagnetic field in the area where he sleeps. when someone is using a cell phone or wifi, i have cramps and ‘restless legs’… and when my legs are too near an electrical outlet, same thing. we are overrun by electrical fields in our modern world.

royalroo said,

just read your blog about the restless legs and magnesium and thought i might give another line of thought… I find that D3 fixes the legs… worth trying if the magnesium isn’t the issue or could be a combination… we get one that has 5,000 mg per tablet and they are very small easy to take enough:)

Eggkins said,

gail said,

Excellent education on magnesium oil economy! That stuff can be fairly pricey.
Be sure to google Dr. Marc Sircus – he wrote the book “Transdermal Magnesium Therapy” which I read. I highly recommend reading it. The Mag “oil” is excellent for a lot of things!

Awesome stuff girl! I love Sean @ underground wellness! When I had a FB account I followed him a lot more than now. But it’s a good kick in the pants to check out what he’s up to now.
This is a great way to do magnesium. I wonder if it would work the same as the magnesium pill do on spider bites. Maybe that should be MY next experiment, they do love to bite me for whatever reason.

Epsom salts are magnesium sulfate and aren’t as easily absorbed. Magsesium oil is made with magnesium chloride and is immediately absorbed. Soaking in epsom salts certainly can’t hurt, and it feels great on sore muscles.

Ahh I was about to ask about that… just read your other post about the magnesium oil… thank you for both of these.. I will see if I can find some magnesium chloride here… we do have dolomite powder which is a form of magnesium, ;-)

LinD said,

Rob’s legs are 100% fine if he remembers to spray every day. If he doesn’t he’s right back to kicking me all night :) I make 1.5 cups of it at a time and he uses that up in a couple of months. I really doubt it would ever expire though.

Lisa, Epsom Salts are Magnesium Sulfate. You need to use Magnesium Chloride. They are completely different. The good news is, Magnesium Chloride is easy to find, and inexpensive. I bought mine from Swanson Ultra, which you can find on amazon.

Lisa Welbourne said,

Ha, well there you go, anticipating my last question. I live in NZ so am hoping I can get magnesium chloride easily over here. It’s like living in the dark ages, hehehe. The most simple things can be very difficult to get hold of, esp pure stuff.

magnesium chloride is what they use to make tofu, so if you have an old fashioned health food store or a tofu manufacturer in your town, you might be able to buy it in bulk. it’s very cheap when you buy it in bulk… something like $2 or $3 per pound.

Lisa Welbourne said,

Thanks. I am having to be very careful with my son who has severe multiple food allergies and chemical sens. I have tried supplementing him on mag and it’s violently coming out the other end. We have been doing epsom salts so this site has been great to find a decent alternative to his magnesium problem.

Lisa, he’s not having a reaction to the Magnesium. It probably says right on the bottle “causes loose stools” That happens to everyone who takes too much internally. Do not use epsom salts. Its the wrong kind of magnesium….

patriciarobinett said,

:) yes, if you want ELIMINATION, take magnesium. i have been finding that even a few drops of food grade H2O2 seems to be improving EVERYTHING for me. i now am convinced that we suffer from a lack of oxygen… there used to be a lot more oxygen in the atmosphere than now.

Storm said,

The photographs from Weston A. Price’s book (how I arrived here to begin with) are truly beautiful.

Thank you for the pleasure, and inspiration, and scientific effort/ research within each post, each of which I have gotten quite a lot out of so far.

I would be fascinated by your search strategies for research- they seem quite efficient.

Also, as a semi-on-off bachelor cook, I’d be interested in what your cooking looks like, proportionally (%raw foods? Baking? Pan-cooking? Oven cooking looks quite prevalent in primal/Paleolithic-type diets/ways of eating, and, as I do not have an oven, I am curious as to how a thriving naturae-eater cooks their meals ongoingly.

I would very much appreciate any feedback, and thank you for what I have gotten from your posts thus-far.

Storm, I’m glad to have you as a reader. Thank you for commenting! Our cooking style really depends on the time of year. It is spring right now, so we are eating more fresh and raw foods and cold dairy and cheese. In the winter I use my crockpot a couple of times a week, and the oven a couple of times a week. You can do a whole lot of cooking in a toaster oven also! I hope this helps.

the wrong Spock said,

I picked the most stressful week ever to try it (during moving) and haven’t been as twitchy. Usually when I go to bed, after about 10 minutes I have an overwhelming urge to get up and do knee bends and high kicks like a Rockette on amphetemines (it feels like creepy crawlies are inside my legs). So far, I’ve been able to stay in bed and only had to flex a few times. It looks promising … Thanks soooooooooo much for writing about it; nothing else has been a successful.

[…] has any beneficial effects, I’ll order some magnesium flakes and make a bigger batch based on these instructions. And in the meantime, I’ll be soothing my stressed-out body with some good music. The latest […]

Jaclyn said,

Hi,
I just made the homemade magnesium oil. Another website says to put 20 sprays but work your way up to that. I did 8 sprays to start, it did leave the residue your talking about, but it didn’t sting at all, does that mean it didn’t work? Also, is it best to put it at night? I’m trying this out after research that it can help with headaches/migraines and I fit a lot of the symptoms of defiencey but I’m worried about the few posters here and there that have said it will make you have diarrhea and or vomit (I’m trying to feel better so obviously don’t want this to happen) any advice you can give me would be great!

Jaclyn, any intestinal distress is caused by ingesting it. If you are just rubbing it into your skin, it bypasses your digestive system and goes directly into your blood stream, so it shouldn’t upset your stomach at all. If it doesn’t sting or itch your skin that is okay, perhaps your skin isn’t as sensitive as ours. It also depends on what body part you’re spraying, some are more sensitive than others :)